


the poets light but lamps

by llwydion



Series: reflections (DCMK AUs) [4]
Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Gen, a little bit of closure, alternative title: kaito finds pandora. what happens next will blow you away, father-son bonding, it still hurts though y'all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-19
Updated: 2019-03-19
Packaged: 2019-11-24 10:56:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18164303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/llwydion/pseuds/llwydion
Summary: He wakes to his father calling him from downstairs.“Kaito, it’s time to get up! You’ll be late for your show!”(Kaito wakes up. Nothing is as it should be.)





	the poets light but lamps

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Fishbowl](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1065337) by [taizi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/taizi/pseuds/taizi). 



> yet another test piece! also because i am struggling to re-find the thread i left off on for shadows so there's that  
> (also "fishbowl" was an awesome read, if y'all are into one piece you really should go read it)

He wakes to his father calling him from downstairs.

“Kaito, it’s time to get up! You’ll be late for your show!”

He sits down across from his father at the breakfast table a few minutes later, dressed in a nice button down with short sleeves (step one of being a magician: don’t hide all your tricks up your sleeves. Your audience is easier to fool then). There’s some toast on the table, since his mother is out of town.

“Kaito, I hope you finished your homework last night for school, even if you’re not going today,” his father says.

“Haha, yeah, sure, _oyaji_.”

His dad raises an eyebrow and manages to pull out a piece of paper from… somewhere. He still doesn’t know how his dad does it, even after eight years of learning magic tricks from him. When he looks closely, he realizes it’s his English homework that he was planning on doing right before class… maybe five minutes before _sensei_ was going to collect it. While he’s at it, he takes the time to discreetly tuck a piece of paper under the wristband of Kaito’s watch. Nothing much, just a simple good luck message.

“Try not to skip doing homework, Kaito, or we’ll have to pause magic lessons.”

“No way! I swear this was a one-time thing, I’ll do all my homework from now on!”

Kuroba Toichi ruffles his son’s hair and sends him off with a push.

“Go on now, or you’ll be late.”

“Bye _oyaji_ , I’ll be back later!”

The door slams. The house is very empty without Kaito’s bright presence and Chikage’s constancy in the background, and he sighs as he gets around to doing the housework.

* * *

Kaito’s not sure when he wakes to the realization that something is wrong, but something is. His mother is on a long-term business trip to somewhere in America, so it’s just him and his father at home, these few months. School happens, but his class is full of boring people that he doesn’t know and doesn’t care to know. Aoko came to visit a few weeks back, but she’s currently busy as well.

There’s something missing in his life, and he’s not sure what.

One day, he turns on the TV (his father is out this evening for a magic show downtown), and he sees a news report featuring a figure standing on the edge of a skyscraper, backlit by police helicopters as he walks across what looks like thin air. The figure is dressed in a white suit with a blue shirt and wears a white top hat and a monocle. It looks disturbingly familiar, and all of a sudden Kaito remembers _everything_.

The next morning, he comes down to breakfast with bags under his eyes. His father, as always, notices.

“You look tired, Kaito. Didn’t sleep well?”

Kaito’s response, when it comes, is slow and hesitant.

“Hey, _tou-san_?”

At the use of the more formal address, Toichi startles. It’s been years since Kaito called him anything but _oyaji_ (since he started teaching his son magic tricks, actually).

“What’s wrong?”

“Are you real?”

If this was anyone else, Toichi would scoff and brush them off. But since it’s his son (who he knows is brilliant and wouldn’t do this as a joke, not this way), he knows something is wrong.

“I’m sitting right here in front of you, talking to you. How is this not real?”

Kaito’s eyes meet his for the first time that morning, and in them Toichi sees absolute devastation.

“Because I’ve dreamed of this before,” Kaito whispers. “I’ve dreamed of this so many times. But I always, always wake up.”

“And why would you have dreams like that?” Toichi asks. He’s afraid to hear the answer.

Kaito blinks once. Twice. Takes a deep breath.

“I – I can’t do this. Sorry.”

He climbs the stairs and Toichi hears the door shut.

When Kaito comes back down again, several hours have passed, and Toichi has been mindlessly cleaning. It’s calming, in a way.

Kaito stands in the doorway to the kitchen and watches for a few moments with an indescribable emotion in his eyes.

Then he moves to sit at the kitchen table, and Toichi follows suit.

“Hey, _tou-san_ , what do you know about Pandora?”

* * *

Kaito’s phone ringing is what interrupts their conversation. Kaito clicks a button (and are phones really that advanced, nowadays?) and puts it on speaker.

“Hello?”

_“Oh, thank god you’re finally picking up, KID-san. Some people were worried when you just disappeared during your heist, and they contacted me.”_

“Akako-hime. What is going on?”

_“We’re currently working on reversing the spell, but we’ll be done soon, I think. The gem at your last heist is confirmed to have been Pandora, but the idea of it granting immortality was a little different from what we had envisioned. Instead of giving the bearer an undying life, you instead were transported to a – well, it’s not really a world, more of a pocket dimension – of your own making.”_

“Who’s ‘we’?”

_“Some detective friends of yours expressed concern over your disappearance. Your small friend, especially, was very helpful in putting two and two together and coming up with seventeen.”_

“And what about _tantei-san_? And Ahoko?”

_“He hasn’t returned from England yet, and Nakamori-san is worried but I called your mother.”_

There’s some indistinct voices on the other end, almost like people are in discussion with one another about some deep scientific concept.

Then _tantei-kun_ speaks. _“We’re beginning the transfer soon, so you have about two minutes to wrap things up on your end,”_ Conan pauses for a second. _“Be quick, Kuroba-san.”_

Kaito is suspiciously quiet for a moment, then he sighs as if he’s made a decision.

“Thanks again, _Meitantei._ ”

There’s a sharp intake of breath on the other end before they go back to quiet discussion.

Kaito turns to his father, who has been watching these proceedings quietly.

“ _Tou-san_ , I’m so grateful you were around for the early part of my life. You were a bigger influence on me than you probably can ever know, and I am proud of what I do as Kaitou KID because of who you made him to be.”

Toichi’s worldview has just tilted considerably since this conversation has started, and all he can do is stare at his son, who has been forced to grow up so much in such a short amount of time and he’s both proud and saddened by it.

“No matter what, Kaito, you’ll always be my son. And since it’s you, I think you’ll be alright.”

 _“Are you ready, Kaito?”_ Akako asks.

Toichi nods. Kaito nods back.

“Yeah. Go for it.”

Toichi, and the rest of the room with him, start to dissolve. Kaito stays solid. He watches as his father’s form starts to disappear once more.

“From one Kaitou KID to another, maybe next time we can meet under the moonlight.”

* * *

Kaito stands on the roof of a skyscraper overlooking the sea, holding a small red gem up to the moonlight.

He lowers his arm.

Down below, the waves are crashing.

Up above, dawn is breaking.

He breathes, and he lets the red gem drop, sparkling in the pre-dawn light, into the hungry waves below.

“Goodbye, _oyaji_.”

.

.

.

_The Poets light but Lamps -_

_Themselves - go out -_

_The Wicks they simulate_

_If vital Light_

 

_Inhere as do the Suns-_

_Each Age a Lens_

_Disseminating their_

_Circumference -_

 

\- "The Poets Light but Lamps -", No. 930, Emily Dickinson

**Author's Note:**

> The Japanese terms here are deliberately chosen.  
> When Kaito switches from "oyaji" (more informal way of saying "dad", lit. "old man") to "tou-san" (slightly more formal but not as formal as "otou-san" or the even more formal "chichiue"), it marks a change in mood to more serious.  
> "Tantei-san" refers to Hakuba, "tantei-kun" to Conan, and "meitantei" to Shinichi. By Shinichi/Conan (I think of him as Shinichi in my head, but that's probably some influence from shadows seeping in) calling Kaito with his real name ("Kuroba-san" as opposed to "KID"), Shinichi is opening up the board for Kaito to make the next move after revealing that he knows who KID is in real life - and Kaito responds brilliantly by calling him "Meitantei" as opposed to "tantei-kun", in turn indicating that he too knows Conan's secret identity.


End file.
